flyingfeet
Well-Known Member
Comprehensive Blue Chip Report with Pics!
OK Im not the first to report back but I have piccys!
Wednesday
All indoors 1m open and 1m Novice
Well we completely ballsed up, Dinky went into the indoor with eyes on stalks as although he is used to the Hartpury arena, it is not normally full of flowers, people and tradestands!
In the 1m open we were eliminated at fence 7, a double towards a particularly scary PRB lorry, that he had no intention of going near in case it was a horse eating lorry.
On to the Novice championship, our first hiccup was a lovely bouncy canter to no.1 and he tried to duck out the exit (just in case I needed to know he wasnt entirely happy!). We had more oohhs and ahhhs than most rounds, as he was eyeballing everything lurching to a stop and then throwing himself over 3ft3! We were doing really well until he tried this in the middle of a triple and whilst he can indeed jump 1m from a standstill, he cannot do this on a spread. So 4 faults and no jump off for us!
Picture - horse killing lorry on the left....
Thursday
Outdoors (yay!) 1m
So we went for our first shot at the cyclossage championship, all was going well, but we just rolled a pole over the water tray in the jump off section. No disgrace as only 10 clears out of 60!
Our 4 faults - I let him get flat as a long way between the last jump and this one, rider error again!
Friday
Outdoors 1m and final!
Again I rocked up for the cyclossage 1m qualifier and this time despite a rather nasty oxer-upright-oxer treble being introduced we jumped clear to claim 6th place. Only 9 clears out of 60 today.
So into the cyclossage final 22 got into the drawn order and one scratched. Qualification did not pass down the line, which meant 8 places were kept out by qualified people competing again. Course wise again they kept that nasty triple in and introduced the dice I had been training for! We jumped a lovely clear to go to the jump off (he did definitely help me out!). I think there were 14 clears out of 22.
So the final, the jump off despite being drawn late and knowing a steady clear would have probably netted a rosette I was a fool!! I decided to try and jump the first at an angle to make the turn to the second double. I totally bollocks'ed it up and managed to have the first down and the section part of the double down. Pure bad driving on my part and I deserve a hefty rap on the knuckles for it!!
Saturday
Sucker for punishment....
So 1m class, I was down to do 1m and 1.05m opens, but Dinky has cracked two sections of his front right hoof and was looking pooped.
So I dragged his brother out to avoid losing the fees, he hasnt jumped since 2nd January at Addington and then only a 90cm!
So jumping my little dressage pony for fun, I racked up a nice cricket score on the first go and had one stop at the dreaded dice (or because they were a 1.05m oxer....)
Here's a nice picture of him totalling the last oxer and about to get whacked in the face by a pole!!
However I did a second round HC (was not going to try a 1.05m on him!!) and he jumped much more fluently with just two down, which was not bad as this one rarely jumps clear and this was a good 1.05m and square in the jump off:
So I am exhausted now! This isn't a report full of a look at me I won this, but I am proud nevertheless as most competing at the Blue Chips do horses for a job rather than work full time like I do. I know with a lot more time and effort my riding could be dramatically improved, but that's in an ideal world!!
A big thank you to everyone who helped me out and kept me company and put up with my self-depreciating whingeing!!!
OK Im not the first to report back but I have piccys!
Wednesday
All indoors 1m open and 1m Novice
Well we completely ballsed up, Dinky went into the indoor with eyes on stalks as although he is used to the Hartpury arena, it is not normally full of flowers, people and tradestands!
In the 1m open we were eliminated at fence 7, a double towards a particularly scary PRB lorry, that he had no intention of going near in case it was a horse eating lorry.
On to the Novice championship, our first hiccup was a lovely bouncy canter to no.1 and he tried to duck out the exit (just in case I needed to know he wasnt entirely happy!). We had more oohhs and ahhhs than most rounds, as he was eyeballing everything lurching to a stop and then throwing himself over 3ft3! We were doing really well until he tried this in the middle of a triple and whilst he can indeed jump 1m from a standstill, he cannot do this on a spread. So 4 faults and no jump off for us!
Picture - horse killing lorry on the left....
Thursday
Outdoors (yay!) 1m
So we went for our first shot at the cyclossage championship, all was going well, but we just rolled a pole over the water tray in the jump off section. No disgrace as only 10 clears out of 60!
Our 4 faults - I let him get flat as a long way between the last jump and this one, rider error again!
Friday
Outdoors 1m and final!
Again I rocked up for the cyclossage 1m qualifier and this time despite a rather nasty oxer-upright-oxer treble being introduced we jumped clear to claim 6th place. Only 9 clears out of 60 today.
So into the cyclossage final 22 got into the drawn order and one scratched. Qualification did not pass down the line, which meant 8 places were kept out by qualified people competing again. Course wise again they kept that nasty triple in and introduced the dice I had been training for! We jumped a lovely clear to go to the jump off (he did definitely help me out!). I think there were 14 clears out of 22.
So the final, the jump off despite being drawn late and knowing a steady clear would have probably netted a rosette I was a fool!! I decided to try and jump the first at an angle to make the turn to the second double. I totally bollocks'ed it up and managed to have the first down and the section part of the double down. Pure bad driving on my part and I deserve a hefty rap on the knuckles for it!!
Saturday
Sucker for punishment....
So 1m class, I was down to do 1m and 1.05m opens, but Dinky has cracked two sections of his front right hoof and was looking pooped.
So I dragged his brother out to avoid losing the fees, he hasnt jumped since 2nd January at Addington and then only a 90cm!
So jumping my little dressage pony for fun, I racked up a nice cricket score on the first go and had one stop at the dreaded dice (or because they were a 1.05m oxer....)
Here's a nice picture of him totalling the last oxer and about to get whacked in the face by a pole!!
However I did a second round HC (was not going to try a 1.05m on him!!) and he jumped much more fluently with just two down, which was not bad as this one rarely jumps clear and this was a good 1.05m and square in the jump off:
So I am exhausted now! This isn't a report full of a look at me I won this, but I am proud nevertheless as most competing at the Blue Chips do horses for a job rather than work full time like I do. I know with a lot more time and effort my riding could be dramatically improved, but that's in an ideal world!!
A big thank you to everyone who helped me out and kept me company and put up with my self-depreciating whingeing!!!
